Most Valuable ’80s Toys Worth Money

Muscle-bound men, big-haired dolls and more monsters than you could fit in a Toys “R” Us shopping cart — the toys of the 1980s were some of the coolest of any era. And also some of the most valuable.

Many franchises and toy lines from the 1980s have turned into expensive toys, collectibles, figures and play sets on sites like eBay and Hake’s Auctions. 

So check your bank account and start thinking about what rare ’80s toys you might have stored away. This trip down memory lane won’t only be fun. It could help you get rich or at least find the funds for a new power glove.  

These are the most valuable toys from the ’80s.

Original price: $25

What you might get for one now: $25-$1,000

Percent increase: 0 percent-3,900 percent

Note: Original prices were sourced from ToyWorth and sometimes the original price sticker. Toys are sorted by percent increase. 

They were a huge fad during the 1980s, and they are still a valuable collector’s item. Cabbage Patch Kids were soft, 16-inch dolls that came with their own passport and birth certificate. They were weird-looking to adults, but lovable to kids.

In 1983, about 200,000 Cabbage Patch Kids were being made each week, according to an old news report that captured a sea of parents clamoring for Cabbage Patch dolls as customer service reps tossed them into the air like a SeaWorld feeding.

A 1987 clown prototype sold for $10,000, but that’s a unique case. Regular, mint condition Cabbage Patch Kids from the 1980s can sell for $2,000.

Prices vary, of course. Some Cabbage Patch kids are worth only as much as they were when they released in the 1980s, while others have skyrocketed in value. 

Original price: $3.99 for a single action figure

What you might get for one now: $30-$400

Percent increase: 652 percent-9,925 percent

“Dungeons and Dragons” began in 1974, but the first toys appeared in 1983. A 17-figure lot with accessories sold for $360 in 2019, while the most expensive item from that line is the Fortress of Fangs. A boxed version in excellent condition sold for $920.

The prototypes are even more valuable, with an unreleased resin prototype for the Behir monster selling for $1,893 in 2019. Others, like the Dragonne, sold for $125 on eBay. 

Single action figures still in the box can sell for quite a lot. A MOC Grimsword figure sold for somewhere in the $400 range in 2021 (it was up for sale at $495 but an undisclosed best offer was accepted).

Not all of these figures are expensive. Some of the figures go for just $30, new in box.